


Mechanics of Survival

by PhoenixofMetal (Blueeyes713)



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dreadwing Didn't Die, Cyborgs, Don't Read if You Don't Like OCs, Frankie and Addie swear a lot, Gen, Human to Robot Transformation, In the Middle of the Apocalypse, Mostly OC-Centric, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, Plot is Weird, Skyquake's Still a Zombie, Strong Language, Violence, but mostly Frankie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-27
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-01-21 01:02:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1531802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blueeyes713/pseuds/PhoenixofMetal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the Omega Lock trashed and a series of misfortunes turning Megatron's cyberforming attempt on Earth into a "one step forward, two steps back" venture, the Decepticons were left to plan their next moves. All that work and scheming and now they were practically back where they started. Then Shockwave came up with a new plan. It wasn't as quick and dramatic as shooting the Omega Lock's energy beam at Earth, but it would work.</p><p>Unfortunately it worked a little too well for everyone's liking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Emerging from the Cocoon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1030673) by [Dellessa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dellessa/pseuds/Dellessa), [thepheonixqueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepheonixqueen/pseuds/thepheonixqueen). 



> The inspiration for this story is mostly a mix of Emerging from the Cocoon and just about every other humans-get-turned-into-robots Transformers fanfic.
> 
> This story is based on an alternate universe where the events of Regeneration and Darkest Hour turned out completely different. Dreadwing didn't die, but he managed to escape The Nemesis after Megatron interfered with his attempt on Starscream's life. Shockwave managed to contact Megatron while on Cybertron and move his projects aboard The Nemesis while everyone was busy. Darkmount, Nevada was made and then quickly abandoned as Knockout accidentally created a terrorcon plague while experimenting on Cylas. The Autobots have moved bases with Ultra Magnus' help due to the close proximity to Darkmount's terrorcon horde.

It felt like she'd been hit by a semi and run over by a train. Scratch that, getting hit by a semi and run over by a train would be preferable to the pain she just woke up in. Everything that didn't hurt felt oddly numb, like when you slept on a limb and woke up to find it numb. What happened while she was out? She couldn't remember much, just some screaming. "Ugh," she groaned hoarsely as she finally got the courage to sit up, open her eyes and look about.

Yellow light spilled out into the dark room revealing her bedroom. Something told her that not much had changed since she'd blacked out. The mess of clothes were still in her closet, her laptop was still on her desk alongside her unfinished homework and her craft projects were still where she left them. The only thing that had changed was it was pitch dark save for the mysterious yellow light that lit the room and allowed her to see.

How long had she been out of it? A few days?

She looked down at her hands only to freeze in shock at the sight before her. Where pale flesh and fingernails had once been, there was metal and sharp, jointed metal claws and the flesh of her arms had been replaced by silver armor atop a duller metal underplating. Further inspection revealed that her legs had suffered a similar fate as well, only they'd been shifted from a normal human configuration to a digitigrade configuration and had viciously sharp claws in place of toes.

"What the fuck happened to me?" she whispered hoarsely.

Seriously, what the hell had happened while she was out? This was the farthest thing from normal or okay that she had ever seen and there was absolutely no chance in hell that she'd be able to hide or handwave this easily. Seriously, how the hell do does one explain away robot velociraptor feet to people without raising eyebrows?

If the changes had been more subtle maybe she could have gotten away with hiding it under clothes, but this was far too obvious to hide or explain away. People did not suddenly change like this out of the blue and people would ask questions. "Alright Frankie," the shaken teen muttered in an attempt to ground herself, "First thing's first. Find out what the heck's going on, then figure out damage control."

That was a good plan, figure out what was going on and go from there. Cross the bridges when you get to them. Simple but effective and should keep her from overthinking the issue until she made herself panic-sick.

First thing to do was get out of bed and see what was going on. Her parents were bound to have come and check on her sometime while she was passed out. Hopefully they hadn't freaked out too much when they saw her. "No," Frankie barked to herself, "don't think about that. Cross that bridge when you get to it."

It took a bit of bumbling about with the strange configuration of her legs, but she finally managed to get up out of her bed and onto her feet. Standing however, created a whole new problem: her center of balance had shifted with the change in leg configuration and a strange weight on her back wasn't helping things. It took a few falls onto the bed to figure out how to stand and distribute her weight so she wouldn't be constantly falling over.

Walking was a similar problem, enhanced by the extra weight of her new legs, but after a few tries she felt confident enough that she could at least walk without falling over. She was almost to the door when she turned to look at herself in the mirror out of vague curiosity.

That was a mistake. Her eyes were yellow, and they were _glowing_. That wasn't the worst of it though, because there were a huge pair of metal wings spreading out from her back and metal armor plates covering her shoulders as well. "My parents are gonna kill me," the now even more stressed teen moaned.

At least it explained the yellow glow that lit her dark room and the previously unexplained weight on her back and shoulders.

* * *

The still stunned teenager was greeted by a dark, silent hallway littered with belongings as she opened the door. "Well this isn't creepy," she muttered sarcastically as she checked to see if there was anyone around.

There was no one. "Now things are getting weird," the girl remarked to herself, "Where'd everyone go?"

She tried to turn on the hall lights only to find that nothing happened when she flicked on the light switch. Power must have gone out some time while she was passed out. Why it hadn't come back on was beyond her and she wasn't about to start going down that rabbit hole of possibilities.

Walking down the flight of stairs leading to the first floor of the house in the semi-dark was a hazardous venture with her still foreign legs and screwed up balance, but she managed by clinging to the railing and hoping she didn't fall and tear it off the wall. However, the lower floor was no better off than the upper one: the house had been completely abandoned, belongings that hadn't been classified as important left behind in what looked to be a hurried retreat.

The panic Frankie had been holding off was returning. The power was out, everyone was gone and all signs pointed to a very urgent retreat. Something had gone very wrong while she was out of it and she had no idea what happened.

The kitchen had been stripped bare of all food but a few cans of chili, some cans of soup and some canned pork and beans that had been left in the pantry. There was a can opener and the rest of the family's silverware in the cutlery drawer as well, but that was about it. Taped to the fridge was a note.

_"Frankie if you're awake and still sane enough to read this, we've been evacuated to the high school. If we haven't been moved by the time you get there, we'll still be there. I've left some food in the pantry and some a can opener in the cutlery drawer just in case. Love, Mom."_

"Still sane enough to read this? Evacuated?" Frankie murmured, "What the fuck happened while I was out?"

It was obvious that staying here wasn't going to work. Everyone had gone off to the high school and most likely wouldn't be returning for a long, long while. If she wanted to find out what happened, then she'd have to go track down her mom and ask her about what happened while she was passed out.

The food she was left with most likely would barely last the week anyway and she was ravenously hungry from being out of it for so long. She'd already spent far too much time passed out on her bed to waste time staying in the house and hoping someone would come back for her when there was a good chance no one would be coming back for her for a long, long time. If she was going to have any hope of living to see the end of next week, she was going to have to leave the house and find food, water and people.

She needed to get her stuff together and leave before dark. She also needed a bath, she concluded after taking a quick, self-conscious sniff at herself. With a sigh, she gathered everything mom had left her together along with some of the silverware and kitchen knives and took it all up to her room. The bath would have to be the last thing on her list before she went out.

In her room she began gathering everything she needed and wanted on her bed and opened the blinds to let some light in. Anything she left behind now might be left behind forever, so anything she wasn't comfortable with cutting out of her life would have to be carried with her. The food, the utensils and the note were obvious, but what else was there that she'd need?

She needed new, clean clothes that didn't smell like sweat and god knows what else, her hygiene supplies from the bathroom, some spare clothes, drinking water, a first-aid kit and tools for supporting herself. Her craft supplies and sewing kit could allow her to make things that she could exchange for other things she might want. As long as she had a source of fiber to spin, she could use her drop spindle to make yarn or thread and her knitting needles could use the yarn to make clothes, so on to the bed they went.

And as much as they were probably useless when the power was out, she wasn't willing to part with her laptop and phone just yet, so she added them and their chargers to the bed. Now that she had pretty much everything figured out she needed to take a bath and find some clean clothes that would accommodate her new body. Once she was clean and didn't reek, she could get the rest of her stuff together and leave.

A quick check in the bathroom revealed that the water had been turned off, but if she remembered correctly the water heater should still have some water inside it. If she drained that out, she could fill the bath tub one bucket at a time with water and take a bath with that. It was going to be a royal pain to pull off and the water would be uncomfortably cold, but it would be worth it to be clean.

* * *

After about an hour of hauling buckets of water up and down the stairs and another hour of awkward bathing, she finally felt clean enough to dry off and look for some clean clothes. She checked in her closet for anything that might be able to accommodate her recently developed wings before giving up and taking some scissors to a plain gray t-shirt and turning it into a low-backed halter top that she could just step into and secure by tying a strap around her neck and used a black bikini top with strings instead of straps for an undershirt. None of her pants would accommodate the bulk and awkward configuration of her new legs, so she stole a pair of her dad's too-large jean shorts and tied them to herself with a seatbelt belt.

Thank god she could still fit her feet through her underwear's leg holes if she was slow and careful.

There was no doubt that she looked like a rummage sale reject, but beggars couldn't be choosers and she was on a deadline. She had to be packed and out of the house by dark and judging by the light in her room it was getting close to noon. "Clock is ticking Frankie," she murmured to herself, "Clock. Is. Ticking!"

She put her hygiene supplies in a bag and pulled the first aid kit out from under the bathroom sink before returning to her room and tossing both on the bed. All her underwear was then pulled from her drawer and dumped on her bed. Now she had everything she knew needed and wanted except water.

Her laptop, phone and their respective chargers were placed in the padded laptop pocket of her school backpack (she had never been more grateful to have gotten a single strap/crossbody backpack in her life) while the craft supplies and note from mom were carefully placed in another pocket. The food, silverware, can opener, first aid kit and underwear was shoved into the main pocket of the backpack.

Now she took a moment to pause and reflect, was she missing anything she might need later? If she remembered correctly, you could go three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water and three weeks without food. She had food and she could get water from the water heater if she absolutely had to, but she was lacking in any kind of shelter. She could probably use someone's house if she had to, but if the high school was abandoned, forcing her to leave Anthem and take to the interstate to find her mom, she was going to be left with a lot less sheltering options.

A trip downstairs to the utility room gained her a couple folded tarps, some paracord, a roll of duct tape, a couple decently sized bottles of alkali water leftover from one of her mom's recent health fads and a rather hefty - and sharp - shovel. The tents her family used for camping were gone though, most likely taken in the haste to evacuate. No big deal, she could make it work if she had to and she doubted she'd have been able to carry a tent in her backpack anyway.

She was probably already going to have to use a second bag to carry the things she'd found as it was, so it was for the best there weren't any tents left. She piled the supplies on the kitchen island and headed back upstairs for her backpack and a large messenger bag to carry the other things. As she was about to leave, she closed her blinds once more, swiped up a family photo, her keys and her wallet from her desk and snatched up a soft blanket and a stuffed toy from her sister's room.

Once downstairs again, she packed everything she'd gathered into the messenger bag and slung it over herself, careful not to catch herself on the wings. Then she did the same with the backpack and wrote up a note explaining where she was going and left it in the same place as the note her mom left just in case she returned to find the home empty and her daughter's room more bare than it was before. With that done, she picked up the shovel from where she left it on the kitchen floor and headed to the door. She had her home keys, her driver's license and everything else she needed, so it was time to leave.

Locking the door behind her, she ventured out into the silent street.

* * *

Walking down the empty street alone was nerve wracking. Was there someone watching her and she didn't know? She gripped her shovel tightly, hoping to scare off anything that might be hiding in the empty houses. So far nothing hostile had jumped out at her, but she still couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something or someone was watching her.

With the nagging feeling of being watched even though she was alone, she didn't have much time to wonder about what happened. Then she came upon a tree completely made of shining metal with solar panel leaves. The ground around it was also metal, and if she looked closely, she could see the metal slowly spreading on the surface. "The fuck?" she muttered to herself as she looked up at the tree.

So she wasn't the only thing that had been mechanized. It was both comforting and incredibly worrying. How would 'normal' baseline humanity treat people like her? Humanity didn't exactly have a good track record for treating people who were different with respect and she was pretty sure this time would be no different.

Filing away the thoughts and worries for later, she picked up a solar panel leaf that had fallen to the ground and placed it in a pocket of her messenger bag. She could ponder it another time, when she wasn't looking for her family. She had to get to the high school before they moved on to somewhere else. Time was of the essence.

The metallic clank of her footsteps seemed to echo loudly in the empty neighborhood, announcing her presence to anyone who could hear her. The feeling of being watched grew more intense by the moment until she heard the faint hiss. Her heart dropped into her stomach and she moved her shovel into a fight-ready position as a loud screech rang out in the street and something came dashing out of an empty home. It was a mechanized dog. A mechanized dog with dark purple eyes, a mouth full of sharp teeth that had split into a set of mandibles and some kind of pincer-tipped proboscis that came out of its mouth.

It was the most horrifying thing she had ever seen. It looked like a hideous mix of a dog and something out of a sci-fi horror movie with a hint of killer robot tossed in to complete the whole thing. It lunged and she smacked it in the face with her shovel. She did not want that thing biting her, not at all.

It lunged again and she smacked it away, sending it sprawling onto its back. Using the sharp end of the shovel she cut the head off it, hoping that would put an end to it. It didn't. The proboscis came back and snapped at her. She smacked it away and stabbed the handle of her shovel into it's chest. The proboscis dropped like a puppet with its strings cut and the entire body went limp, a puddle of purple liquid beginning to ooze from the body. "That's really, really gross," she muttered, walking away from the disgusting corpse.

She couldn't linger on how she suspected that she'd known that dog, a sweet, fluffy little thing named Marshmallow that had always been eager to see her when she came over to play or take him for walks down the street to help his elderly owner. Whatever happened had turned poor Marshmallow into something horrible, something feral and nigh-unstoppable. Not every change had turned out fairly benign like her's or the tree's, and she was pretty sure there'd be more like Marshmallow among them.

* * *

She'd made good progress on the road when the sun began to set. Now there was a new conundrum, keep going down the road a little while longer or start looking for good shelter now? Nighttime was when predators of all kinds came out to hunt and after encountering Marshmallow she had an idea of what kinds of predators she'd encounter when the sun went down. Shelter was no longer an option, but an imperative until she knew more about what she was up against and how to best deal with them.

She spent the last remnants of daylight searching for a place to hole up in until morning. Most of the houses she came across had been locked, rendering her unable to get in them without significant effort that she didn't have time for. In a couple houses she could hear faint hissing from inside and she ran as far as she could from those houses. Hissing meant monsters, and after Marshmallow she wasn't eager to encounter another.

Finally she found her friend Lori's house.

It was locked like all the other houses she'd encountered, but she knew where their family hid a spare key. It was under a rock that was under the hedge near the door. She took the key out and opened the door. The house was dark and empty, just like every other house on the block. To be safe, she locked the door behind her and closed all the opened window blinds she could find. Now no one would know that she was here.

The utility room yielded a battery-powered camping lantern to help light her exploration of the house. Just as there had been in her own house, there were definite signs of a hurried retreat. Even Lori's room looked like she'd just grabbed some important things and bolted. At least they'd left some food in their pantry for her to take. She'd never been so glad to see a box of saltine crackers in her life.

She spent the night barricaded in a windowless center room of the house, clutching her shovel and listening to the screeches and yowls of what was outside, hoping they wouldn't find her. Eventually the screeching and yowling became fainter and fainter until it stopped altogether. Hopefully whatever had been outside moved on to somewhere else. Once she'd double-checked that the doors to her room were locked and her barricade was secure, she ate three-fourths of a box of saltine crackers and fell into a light and uneasy sleep with one hand on her shovel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 4/4/2017 as part of a story-wide rework effort to make the story a bit more understandable and detailed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Earlier in the unfolding disaster that Frankie just woke up to...

Megatron stared at the images Soundwave's drone had brought back from the surface. Shockwave's plan was working, slowly but surely Earth was being converted from a filthy mudball to a gleaming world fit for their kind. Unfortunately, the same nanites that were converting the planet were also converting the organic population that they should have killed, creating half organic-half cybertronian abominations that now ran amok on the planet. Some had even caught and were spreading that accursed terrorcon plague Knock Out accidentally created.

Now instead of just being nuisance pests to exterminate and sweep away, they were actually a threat. The entire species was a danger to them. If it wasn't the terrorcon plague they could now carry and spread, it was their new mechanical frames that were slowly taking over their fleshy little bodies, making them harder to kill and more likely to fight back. Yet another plan had backfired spectacularly.

But maybe it hadn't. Maybe there was a way to take advantage of this unexpected turn of events. It was so simple it was almost laughable how he'd disregarded it. They'd strategically place "evidence" that suggested that the current situation on Earth was the Autobot's fault and let the stupid, filthy creatures jump to conclusions and turn on their own allies. Once they'd realize they'd been duped it would be too late for them, and his troops would obliterate them all.

It was perfect. _"Soundwave,"_ the silver warlord barked over the private comm line he'd just opened, _"Meet me on the bridge, I have an idea for you."_

* * *

 _"I'm doing my best to keep the higher-ups appeased,"_ Agent Fowler sighed over the phone, _"but they're getting really antsy. Order's collapsing and the public is demanding answers. We need some to give them before they start jumping to the wrong conclusions."_

"We are doing our best to unravel this mystery Agent Fowler," the red and blue mech replied, "but it is taking us longer than expected."

 _"Is there anything you can give me about this stuff right now so I can get the brass off my back?"_ the human asked, sounding almost desperate, _"Anything at all?"_

"All we know at the moment is that whoever designed these mystery nanites designed them to be exceedingly difficult to reverse-engineer. I would not be surprised if they were one of Shockwave's creations."

"Nanites?" the agent asked, "What's a nanite?"

"A nanite is a microscopic machine designed to perform tasks that would otherwise be impossible due to size," the Prime answered, "Their most common use is in our self-repair systems, repairing damage such as hairline fractures before they have a chance to become bigger."

 _"How did_ that _wind up becoming_ this _?"_

"Nanites can be designed and programmed to do their creator's bidding," Optimus sighed, "Unfortunately, this has created the situation we are in now."

* * *

"I'm bored," Miko groaned, dropping her video game controller on the coffee table, "We've played this game a bajillion times already. There's _got_ to be something better to do."

Raf paused the game and looked over at the older girl, "Well we're kinda stuck until the 'bots can fix things."

"Ugh," the girl groaned once more, "I wanna go dune bashing with Bulk."

"Miko," Jack sighed from across the room, "We'll do that later, just not when there's been a potentially life threatening nanobot infestation unleashed upon Earth. Besides, I'm pretty sure everyone else is just as fed up with the current situation as you are."

* * *

"I'm fed up with being cooped up in here," Bulkhead groused, "I made plans to go off-roading with Miko _days_ ago."

"Well until we know how to combat these rogue nanites you'll just have to deal with it," Ratchet snapped irritably from his lab, "Optimus' orders."

Bulkhead gave a loud expression of frustration before storming off angrily. Tensions had been rising among the team ever since Optimus had given the order to keep the humans inside while Ratchet worked on stopping the nanite's progress on the outside world. Eventually someone was going to say something and it turn into a huge argument.

The sooner he managed to find the shut down and self destruct codes for these renegade nanites the better. If only to preserve his beloved peace and quiet.

* * *

Dreadwing kept himself huddled in a corner of The Harbinger. He'd patched up the worst of his wounds with what little supplies had been left aboard the ruined ship, but he was still in a great deal of pain. Part of him wanted to try and contact the Autobots and ask for help, but his stubborn pride and the very genuine fear that Soundwave would intercept his message kept him from doing so. Sometimes when he was in recharge, he'd dream of his brother.

Part of him wished he'd never wake up from them, that he'd stay in those happy fantasies until he offlined from a lack of fuel. But he couldn't. Not while that scheming backstabber Starscream still lived. He still needed to avenge his lost brother, and he wouldn't give the piece of slag the knowledge that he'd been the reason he died.

* * *

The rusting, lumbering hulk grunted at the sight of the large, broken ship before it, it's lost arm skittering on ahead like a hunting dog looking for prey. This place felt familiar, but it couldn't remember why it was familiar. It lumbered after it's arm, hoping it would find something. Maybe something that would tell it why this place was familiar.

It plodded down the halls until it came upon a room. The room looked like someone had been in it not long ago. Perhaps there was food. It liked food.

Finally, it found what it was looking for. A living bot huddled in a corner, murmuring softly as he recharged. The terrorcon could barely understand what this painfully familiar bot was saying, so it bumbled closer. Then it heard it. "Skyquake," the bot whimpered softly as it squirmed before settling down.

It didn't know why that hurt as much as it did and why this mech was so familiar when it could not remember anything of either, but it huddled up on the ground beside the sleeping mech and whined softly.

* * *

June Darby felt horrible. At first she was certain it was just an ordinary flu, a side effect of working in a hospital around sick people, but now she wasn't so sure. The flu did not cause eye pain, ear pain and distractingly painful joint pain. This was something else, but she didn't want to admit to the others that something might be wrong. Ratchet was already overwhelmed trying to find a way to stop the nanites from continuing their unwelcome rampage across the globe, he didn't need a sick human to deal with too.

So she kept quiet and relied on ibuprofen to keep the edge off the worst of the pain. She stayed away from the others, feigning frustration at their current confined situation as her excuse to stay away from others. It was no surprise then, that when the nanites she'd accidentally picked up while working in the Jasper, Nevada hospital finally began their task in earnest, Jack was the one to discover his mom unconscious on the floor of her temporary bedroom hours after she'd passed out.

It was also no surprise that all hell proceeded to break loose in the base that night after Jack made his discovery.


	3. Chapter 3

Frankie awoke with a start to a dark room slightly lit by sunlight filtering in through the space between the door and the floor and her own glowing yellow eyes. She listened carefully for a few moments before scooping her stuff up, dumping it in her backpack, unlocking the door and sneaking out of the room. It was time for her to leave this place.

She did a careful check of the area before leaving the house, locking the door behind her and placing the key back in it's hiding spot. It was only courtesy to leave the place you borrowed in the same condition it was in before you borrowed it. Everything may have gone weird, but she wasn't going to abandon her manners.

* * *

The streets seemed more barren today than they were yesterday. And the trees she knew she remembered being completely normal trees yesterday were either partially metal or completely metal. Even bushes and flower plants had changed into masses of shiny solar panel leaves and glowing crystal flowers. Even the grass had changed. Whatever had happened overnight, it was making everything really, really weird.

Shovel at the ready, she began to head down the street. There was a decently sized stretch of strip mall she had to walk past in order to get to the high school. Odds were, that's where any stragglers like her would congregate. She both relished the idea and dreaded it. She'd be able to talk to people and ask them about what happened while she was passed out, but people would see her, they'd judge her. Back when things were normal - when she was normal - she would have given less of a damn what people thought about her, but now that everything had started to change - herself included - she suddenly was scared about what other people would think.

Like it or not, she'd just have to deal with it. She was already coming upon the first few shops and restaurants. Almost all of them had broken windows or signs of looting. Lovely.

* * *

The rest of the shopping center was a wreck of broken windowed buildings, trashed cars and - worst of all - dead bodies. Some looked pretty fresh, others had been lying out for awhile. Among them lay a few partly mechanized humans, but oddly there were very few of them. The small, four holed bite marks on some of the dead suggested they'd encountered the same purple-eyed nightmares like the dog she'd fought the other day. Hopefully the hideous creatures had moved on.

The closer to the interstate she got, the more abandoned military vehicles she found. Big khaki trucks that were meant for hauling people or heavy supplies that were riddled with massive claw marks and completely unusable. What had happened here? These claw marks were far too big to have been the doing of anything human sized.

There was something out there that was bigger than a human. Now that was much more worrying than what people would think of her when they saw her.

* * *

She already knew from looking at the outside of the high school that it was abandoned. She'd come too late. "Damn," she muttered softly, "Missed 'em."

Still, if the high school was used as an evacuation waypoint, then perhaps there were still some supplies left inside. She may have been pretty well stocked, but it wouldn't hurt to go check for more stuff. The more supplies she had prepared, the more she had in case something went bad. Mind made up, she snuck into the building and began roaming the halls, ears listening for any sign of danger.

She searched her locker and some of the other unlocked lockers for anything of use and found nothing useful. The locker room lockers were much the same, nothing useful. As she walked past a janitor's closet she heard a soft whisper, "Hey."

She jumped in surprise and swiveled around with her shovel at the ready to fight any threat only to be confronted by the sight of a small girl in a too-big t-shirt with a couple jet wings sticking out of her back and glowing red eyes. "What?" she asked quietly.

"It's not safe here," the girl murmured, "there's those purple-eyed monsters hiding out in here."

Well crap, she'd just walked into a huge cluster of nope. "So why are you here?" she murmured.

"I came looking for my family an' got lost," the girl whimpered, "I can't get out because of the monsters."

"I know the way out," Frankie sighed, "I'll lead you out, but you gotta hang on to me, be absolutely silent unless you know something important and run when I tell you to."

"Okay," the girl replied, nodding her head and smiling.

"Grab whatever you've got," she muttered, "we begin now."

* * *

They'd woven around the school, ducking into corners and evading the occasional monster before finally reaching an exit. A fire exit. If they opened the door and the power was still on, then the entire school's fire alarm system would sound. It'd be like kicking a beehive full of bees. Those monsters would be one thousand different levels of pissed.

"Should we risk it?" the older girl murmured questioningly before a loud screech could be heard from behind them, they'd been spotted.

"Let's just get out of here!" the little girl squealed.

"Don't need to tell me twice!" Frankie yelled as she shoved the door open and pushed the younger girl out first before dashing out herself, "Now run!"

They ran down the field, like bats out of hell until they'd escaped the fencing of the high school which became an insurmountable obstacle to the pursuing monster and were out on the interstate itself, far away from the hive of danger that was the high school. "So," Frankie began nervously, "Who are you?"

"Addie," the girl replied, "Addie Maddox."

"Frankie Coffey," she answered, holding her mechanized hand out, "Nice to meet you. Just wish it coulda been under better circumstances."

"Yeah," the small girl sighed as she shook the older girl's hand, "Thanks for getting me out of that school. I thought I was never gonna get out."

"You're welcome," Frankie chirped happily.

* * *

"So," Addie began almost nervously, "where we goin'?"

"Somewhere far away from the cities," Frankie replied, "You saw how bad the high school was, now just imagine an entire city like that."

The girl visibly shuddered, "Oh no, no, no, no!"

"My thoughts exactly," the yellow eyed girl sighed, "Well at least our new metal feet don't get sore or tired like our old ones. We can go a lot longer without stopping."

"Yeah!" Addie chirped, jet wings fluttering, "We can go forever!"

"Just not at nighttime," Frankie added, "Bad stuff comes out at night."

"How much longer until night?" Addie asked almost fearfully.

"We've still got plenty of time to find shelter. If we get to the last good shelter available for miles, then we'll just stay there and work on setting up. I'm not risking a night encounter with purple-eye monsters."

* * *

They'd made good progress when they came across a mostly intact APC abandoned on the side of the road. "Should we risk it?" Frankie asked nervously, "We'll be the only guys with a vehicle so the noise will be pretty darn obvious."

"It's better than nothing," Addie replied, "an' it's faster than walking."

"True," Frankie sighed, "but just how many monsters will be drawn to the sound? How many pushy, questionable people will come to us demanding we provide transport to them? Are we prepared to deal with them? Can we deal with them?"

"I dunno," Addie replied, "but the sun's gonna start goin' down soon an' we need somewhere to hide for the night."

"True," Frankie sighed, "We'll take what we can get and hole up here for the night. But we gotta stay quiet, no matter what goes on outside."

It was easier said than done.


	4. Chapter 4

"So, why aren't we trying to look for our families?" Addie asked curiously as they walked along, "I mean, they had to have gone _somewhere_."

"We have no way of knowing where they went," Frankie sighed, metal wings drooping slightly, "With everything messed up and weird, there's no way of finding out either. We're better off getting away from danger zones and hiding out until the worst is over. Once things have gotten as close to normal as possible, then we can come back and search. But not now."

"Oh," the small girl sighed, jet wings drooping sadly, "Okay."

"It'll be okay," Frankie remarked encouragingly, "It's just gonna take some time for things to get better."

"An' how long is 'some time'?" the girl asked.

There were many things Frankie knew and didn't know, and this question fell into the ranks of things she did not know. "I dunno," she sighed, "We just gotta keep moving on and hope for the best."

* * *

"Ew," Addie groaned as she pointed to a rotting corpse lying on the road, "There's maggots."

"Addie," Frankie sighed, "Get away from that. Goodness knows what kinds of nasty germs are working on decomposing it."

The sudden hissing gurgle that came from it caused the young girl to scream loudly and jump away, jet wings held high up in startlement and fright. And not a moment too soon, as a pair of purple glowing eyes leveled themselves at her and a maggot covered hand tried to reach out at her. "Frankie!" Addie screamed as she continued to back up, "Frankie, it's a zombie!"

Frankie turned around, fully expecting the girl to be just playing around, only to see that yes, the corpse was a zombie. "You gotta be shitting me," the older girl muttered irritably, "First the monsters and now this. Can shit get any more fucked up today?"

 The 'zombie' gave an almost frustrated sounding growl and let out a long proboscis with four snapping fangs at the end, desperately trying to get at Addie. "I shouldn't have asked," Frankie sighed as she approached the distracted zombie and brought the sharp end of her shovel down on the proboscis.

The zombie howled with anger and hissed at her, broken proboscis lashing about like an angry cat's tail, sparks flying from the severed end. "Don't give me that look you rotting piece of shit," the older girl hissed as she brought her sharpened shovel blade down upon the undead nightmare's neck, severing the head from the body, "You started this, now you deal with it."

The undead body fell limp as it was cut off from it's driving force, the crude processor that had been developing within the human it once was before it was killed. To be on the safe side, Frankie stabbed the shovel's blade into the chest, just as she had done with the dog she'd fought before. Now, perhaps it was truly dead.

"I don't feel so good," Addie moaned as she backed away from the rotting mess.

"Whatever you do," Frankie remarked, "don't barf. We can't afford to have food wasted."

"Okay," the young girl squeaked softly as she carefully stumbled over to an abandoned tire lying on the road and sat down upon it.

* * *

"Frankie," Addie murmured, "why haven't we seen any other people who weren't monsters?"

"They've probably either died or fled," the teen replied, "I only woke up a few days ago, so I'm pretty sure we're some of the last stragglers trying to get away. There might be some guys in Phoenix that are still going down the highways trying to get out, but I'm not willing to chance it. Phoenix is probably one huge clusterf-"

Frankie cut off as she realized who she was talking to. She was not going to use those words in front of a younger child if she could help it, even though she'd let loose during the fight with the zombie. "Clusterfuck?" Addie asked, filling in the blank left by the older girl.

"Yeah," Frankie sighed, "How do you even know that word?"

"My brother has a potty mouth," she replied flatly, "I learned all my bad words from him."

"I'm not sure if I should be upset or relieved," the older girl remarked, "maybe I'll settle for a mix of both."

"Let's go back to what you were saying about Phoenix," Addie suggested, "Like, why would Phoenix be a huge clusterfuck right now?"

"There's lots of buildings," Frankie replied, "it's easy to get lost in the city if you don't know the way around the place and there's so many perfect hiding places for enemies and inescapable ambushes. There were also a lot of people living there. Lots of people means lots of potential monsters."

"So the whole place is just too dangerous?" Addie asked.

"Yeah," the shovel-wielding teen replied, "It's just too dangerous on far too many levels. Flagstaff's going to be just as bad - if not worse - once we reach it."

"We're going to _Flagstaff_?" the young girl gasped excitedly.

"That's the idea," she answered, "There's too much heat and not enough readily available food and water here in southern Arizona, so we're going to head up north where there's more plentiful food and water. Hopefully we won't get there by winter. The snow and cold up there can easily kill if you're not prepared and protected from it, just like the heat down here."

"Oh," Addie murmured worriedly.

"It's nice now," Frankie remarked, "but just wait 'till summer. This whole place is going to be hotter than hell and I'd like to be far away when that happens."

"Too bad that APC was out of gas," the young girl sighed, "we coulda drove up to Flagstaff an' gotten outta here before summer."

"We can always look to see if there's a car that runs," the yellow eyed teenager suggested.

* * *

"This is the bestest thing ever!" Addie squealed excitedly in the back seat as Frankie drove down the interstate in a white, hatchback hybrid.

"It could be better," the driving-focused teen replied, "but it's definitely a thousand times better than being on foot. And this baby has a mostly-full tank of gas. If we're lucky, we can make it at least halfway before we have to abandon the car."

"Alright!" the younger girl cheered, wings held up in triumph.

"And for the most part this car's pretty quiet," Frankie added, "we'll attract less attention as long as your cheering doesn't get too loud."

"Oh," Addie murmured, suddenly reminded that while their situation had improved they were still very much in danger of discovery by potential enemies, "Okay."


	5. Chapter 5

Surprisingly, they'd gotten pretty far with the car before they had to stop for the night. "I'm not night driving," Frankie muttered as the sun began it's downward descent, "Not with the fucked up shit that comes out at night."

Addie, still vividly remembering the incident with the zombie earlier in the day, nodded eagerly in agreement. "So where are we gonna hide tonight?" she asked quietly.

"I've been in this part of Camp Verde before while on camping trips," Frankie answered, "but I don't know the town itself, so we're probably going to be hiding in the convenience store bathroom tonight. Hopefully there won't be any monsters hiding in there, because after earlier today I am not in the mood to deal with more."

"Me neither," Addie murmured, visibly shuddering.

"You got everything?" Frankie asked as she prepared to lock the car, "We're not going to be making any quick trips outside once the sun goes down and I'm not certain that the car will be here by tomorrow morning."

"Yup," the girl answered, "I've got all my stuff."

"Let's go then," the older girl sighed, "I'd like to search the store for some food before it gets dark. That way we can eat something resembling a decent dinner tonight while we're huddled inside the bathroom."

"You think there'll be cookies?" the young girl asked eagerly.

"Maybe," Frankie answered, "but I wouldn't hold my breath, remember what I said about us being stragglers? Well there have obviously been people here before us and they've most likely taken everything tasty, including cookies."

"Aw," Addie groaned.

"If we're lucky we might find that juice you like," the teen added as she carefully stepped through the broken glass of the convenience store door and into the store itself, shovel at the ready.

* * *

Thankfully nothing had jumped out to attack them while they were busy grabbing all the food they could find and searching for the bathroom keys so they could lock the door behind them once they were inside. Thankfully no one had thought to check the employees only part of the store, because that's where the keys were, hanging on a peg and completely undisturbed since they were placed there by some long gone employee.

"So now what?" Addie asked curiously as Frankie snatched up the keys.

"We take what we've got and hide 'till morning," Frankie replied flatly, "Hopefully the ladies room isn't too much of a mess."

By now the sun had almost finished it's descent, casting it's last rays of light upon the land. Not eager to discover what would come out once those last rays were gone, the two made a mad dash for the bathroom. "Stay behind me until we've cleared the room," Frankie whispered as they entered the bathroom, shovel firmly held in both hands while Addie locked the door behind them, "last thing we need is you getting attacked again."

The stalls were meticulously searched from top to bottom, right up until they got to the last one. Inside was what once had to have been a human, now it - no, it probably was a she if the purple skirt she wore was anything to go by - was completely mechanized, the final form that awaited the shovel wielding teen and her young companion. Frankie was the first to notice the tainted purple glow that emanated from the lights on her body, the monster's tell-tale glow. "Aw fuck," Frankie muttered angrily.

That was enough to cause the unconscious nightmare to almost instantly wake up, purple eyes quickly opening and widening in fear. But where the others would attack, this one attempted to flee, only to be stopped by the locked bathroom door. "No, no, no, no," she rasped, desperately trying to open the door and escape the approaching Frankie, "this _cannot_ be happening."

"I was thinking the same thing," Frankie remarked.

The now cornered creature-person-whatever turned to level a harsh glare at her, "You're not the one being threatened with a shovel."

"I'm the one locked in a bathroom with a purple eyed nightmare that can talk," the yellow eyed teen muttered, "I may have woken up a few days ago, but I've seen enough to know that purple eyes are bad fucking news."

"Yeah," Addie added, "even the ones that look dead come at you."

"I came here to get as far away from people like you specifically for that reason," the cornered girl replied, "I don't want to be that and it's easier when there's no temptation from others."

"It's dark out right now. We can't go anywhere at the moment," Frankie sighed, "Bad shit comes out at night and I _really_ don't want to get to acquainted with them in the dark."

"Smart move," the cornered one sighed, "wish I'd done that instead of goin' out an' gettin' bit like a dumbass."

"At least you're slightly better off than the ones outside," Addie murmured, "they're crazy."

"True that."

* * *

"So what's your name?" Addie asked curiously as Frankie turned on her camping lantern, lighting up the pitch dark bathroom.

"Monique," the purple eyed girl replied, "Monique Summers."

"I'm Addie Maddox," the small girl chirped before pointing to Frankie, "an' she's Frankie Coffey."

"Sorry about the shovel thing," Frankie sighed, "We've just had way too many encounters with the monsters."

"Well at least you recognize them for what they are," Monique replied, "many realized way too late that there was no reasoning with them. Even some parts of the military made the mistake of assuming they weren't little more than savage animals."

"What happened while we were out?" Frankie asked, "The memories are really blurry and I must have been passed out for at least a week."

"It's been almost a month since things started," Monique replied, "They say it started in some nowhere town in Nevada an' spread along the intersate corridors. At first it was just a couple people passing out and waking up with robot parts - it was easily hidden by hiding in your house - but then some people transformed wrong an' went crazy. After that, normal people started hunting for changed people to hurt, thinking we were all crazy. "

"Damn," Addie murmured.

"The military got called in to keep order," Monique continued, "An' for a day or two things were okay, but then rumors started that they were going to round up all the changed people an' either kill them or turn them into some military science project."

"No one really trusted the authorities to begin with, but after that people started locking themselves away and hiding changed family members from sight. Then to add to the already bad situation, the biters started appearing. First it was one or two - easily handled and mistaken for a type of crazy - but then it started spreading around the hidden changed population. No one wanted to ask the soldiers for help, fearing that they would use it as an excuse to kill them all. In a week's time the number of biters became too much to hide or handle so evacuations were ordered and the military pulled out, taking all the unchanged people with them. Changed people were left to fend for themselves."

"Damn," Frankie remarked.

"As far as I know most changed people have fled the cities as the biter populations in them continue to grow. You guys are probably some of the last stragglers I've seen. Everyone else here is either trapped, dead, crazy or a biter."

* * *

"So," Addie murmured sleepily at some time around midnight, "what's the plan for tomorrow?"

"If our car is still there, we're gonna rocket up to Flagstaff and see if there's anything up there except biters," Frankie mumbled in the dark, her glowing eyes illuminating the pitch black room, "You up for joining us Monique?"

"Are you crazy?" the owner of the twin purple lights in the far corner of the room asked, "I'm a biter!"

"Look," Frankie muttered, "We need all the help we can get to get out of here. You yourself already said there's nothing left here for us except biters. Eventually they'll start hunting each other once food supplies run out. You'd be better off with us than with the other biters."

"I suppose," the biter murmurs, "but I'm scared I'll lose control an' come at you."

"You've done good so far," Addie yawned softly, her red eyes dully glowing in the dark room, "That's gotta mea-"

"Shhh!" the biter hissed, purple eyes wide, "Something's nearby and it's _not_ friendly."

The two pairs of glowing eyes widened in fear and went silent. That's when they heard the crunching of glass and a none too soft hiss. There was a biter inside the building. Thank goodness they managed to find the bathroom keys to lock themselves inside for the night and hid in the farthest part of the bathroom. The sound of more crunching glass and a rattling click-purr could also be heard, suggesting that there was more than one biter in the building.

Suddenly there was a loud screech from one of the biters and a cry of pain from the other. Then, the slightly muffled sound of glass shattering and things breaking could be heard alongside angry screeches and hisses. They were fighting each other. Over what, no one could be certain, but the fact that they were fighting was a sign that things were starting to get bad for the biters.

A final cry of pain was eventually heard before a loud victory screech left their ears ringing. The fight was over and someone had lost. Once the ringing died down, the crunch of glass could once more be heard as the victor stalked away, leaving the loser to fend for himself. The faint whimpers of pain grew closer and closer as the losing biter scraped it's way towards the sheltered corner that was the area of the bathroom doors.

Needless to say, very little sleep was had for the rest of the night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look! An update!
> 
> I've had this chapter in the works for awhile but just haven't had as much luck drumming up inspiration or motivation to do any work on it.

"Ughaaaaaa," Monique groaned as she stretched herself out after getting up from her place on the bathroom floor, "I've got so many kinks in my back it's not even funny."

"Me too," Frankie sighed, "Leaning against the wall was a bad idea."

"At least we locked the door last night," Addie murmured.

"Aw crap," Monique muttered, "We gotta deal with the biter outside. You better have your shovel ready when you open that door Frankie."

"Good thing you remembered," the teen remarked, "because I genuinely forgot that it was still in front of the door."

"That would be a nasty surprise," Addie giggled.

"Is everyone ready to go out?" Frankie asked, "Cause I'm about to unlock the door. Once that door's unlocked, there won't be much between us and that wounded biter."

Addie nodded silently while Monique adjusted her skirt and checked herself over one last time, "Now I'm ready."

"Alright then," Frankie muttered, "I'm gonna unlock the door and see what's outside."

 She unlocked the door and stuck her head out through the open door as she carefully pushed it open. The wounded biter lay huddled against the men's bathroom door, it's fanged proboscis lying severed on the floor by the women's room door. Between the huge gashes that had been raked across it's body and the exposed circuitry that could be seen underneath the flayed flesh, the biter looked pretty pitiful to be honest. Nothing like the nightmare of a dog she'd faced off against before. The biter began to shift in it's sleep and Frankie ducked back into the restroom, afraid that the creature would awaken and attack.

"Monique," Frankie whispered, "can biters slowly heal from having a proboscis severed? The one out there got it's proboscis severed and the severed part is lying next to the door."

"Not that I've seen," Monique answered warily, "But I wouldn't be surprised if they could. How bad is the rest of the damage?"

"Extensive," Frankie replied, "Lots of exposed circuits. There's a puddle of dried purple stuff."

"That purple stuff's our blood," the sane biter murmured, "That biter's biter food if it can't get to a safe place and recover from the damage. It's not up for a round two even if it wanted it."

An idea wormed it's way into Frankie's head. It was probably the craziest idea on the face of planet Earth, but with all the crazy already going on in the world, what was a little bit more crazy? "Monique," Frankie whispered, "Did you ever see that zombie show where that lady with the sword kept a couple zombies as pets to disguise her scent from other zombies?"

* * *

 "Frankie you are the craziest motherfucker on the face of this planet," Monique remarked flatly from the back seat of the hatchback.

The wounded biter lay on the rest of the back seat, it's head resting peacefully in Monique's lap as it softly purred at the other biter. The poor thing had started purring the moment Monique had picked it up and carried it to the air conditioned car. It seemed to know that it wasn't going to be attacked or eaten by the stronger biter and her non-biter companions.

"Sometimes," Frankie quipped, "crazy just might work."

"It might also get you bit," Monique sighed, "once you're bit there's no going back and I can't guarantee you'll turn out sane like me. Even sane, this existence is hell. Trust me when I say that you _do not_ want what I've got."

Addie, seemingly sensing that the conversation topic needed changing before things went too far looked over at Frankie, "How long until we get to Flagstaff?"

"If the roads were actually clear, we'd get there in an hour," the yellow-eyed teen answered, "As it is, we'll be lucky to make it in two or three hours."

"Ugh," Addie groaned, "There's gotta be a better way."

The unnamed biter in the back seat warbled in what seemed to be agreement.

* * *

"Monique," Addie began nervously, "You know how you said biters need to drink blood?"

"Yeah?" Monique asked distractedly as she helped Frankie push some cars off the road so they could continue on.

"This is probably gonna sound really gross," the jet-winged girl answered, "but do you think corpse blood would work? It's nasty, but it's better than hunting and killing people."

"That's what I've been subsisting on so far," the biter remarked, "why do you ask?"

"Well there's some pretty fresh corpses over here that look like they haven't been eaten from."

"Might as well drink while I can I suppose," Monique sighed, "Besides, I don't know how much longer our new companion can handle going without. They've been really good so far, but I don't wanna push our luck."

Monique walked over to the car and picked up the still nameless biter, causing it to warble nervously. "Nah, we're not dumping you," Monique murmured, "I'm just bringing you to the food."

The biter started warbling with excitement at the mention of food. It was obviously hungry and had been so for awhile, but now it was going to get food.

Monique gently placed the other biter on the ground by the corpses and began to inspect them carefully. Addie's tale of her encounter with the biter ghoul on the interstate enough to make her cautious about corpses. What she found made her hiss in disgust, corpses in various states of change that looked like they'd been shot and burned at the same time. Even after seeing so many dead bodies in various states of horrible destruction, this was the first time she'd seen something like _this_.

"I think somebody shot these guys. I know from experience that normal armor piercing bullets don't affect people as extensively changed as some of these guys. You'd have to use tank killer bullets on armor like this."

The small girl squeaked in curiosity. "There's actually bullets that can kill tanks?"

"Yep. They're designed to burn through the tank's armor, which would explain these nasty burns on the less armored guys."

"So you think it was army guys that did this?" Frankie asked nervously as she walked over and looked at the corpses in hopes of finding any other clues, "I mean who else would have access to weapons like that?"

"It's the best explanation. The shots are too precise and the bullets needed are too exotic. It's gotta be the military or somebody with training and access to military weapons."

"Well shit," Frankie sighed, "Finish up your food stop quick and let's get out of here. The sooner we're away from this place the better."

* * *

The sun was sinking deeper into the sky and in an abundance of caution, Frankie had made the executive decision to stop while they could and hunker down in a roadside motel for the night. Too many potential enemies were coming out of the woodwork and Frankie wasn't going to chance it. Besides, they needed time to rest, eat and plot out tomorrow's plans.

"I think the big thing that needs to be talked about right now is what we're going to do about unchanged people," Monique announced over their dinner, "the first sign that they might still be around we've seen on this whole trip has been the bodies of dead changed. That's not a good sign."

"You mentioned earlier that the military evacuated the unchanged while leaving the rest of us to the biters," Frankie noted between bites of food, "do you think today's recent find might have something to do with that?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," the biter sighed, "if they left us to die by the biters, why wouldn't they finish the job the other biters failed at?"

"So let me get this straight," Addie remarked, "The guys that we were always told were supposed to protect us might now be _against_ us?"

"Pretty much," the Frankie answered, "Until we know why they're doing this, we have to assume they're going to kill us."

"Especially me and our new buddy," Monique added, "Biters are an already known enemy and as far as I know there's no other sane biters to give them any reason to believe that I'm not a threat. An obviously wild biter is an even bigger target."

The wild biter in question whined softly in distress before the entire table went silent. They may have only spent a day or two together, but they'd begun to grow on each other and the thought of losing someone was painful. They'd already had some idea of the direness of their situation, but today's discovery and discussion had quite painfully hammered home the fact that things were worse than they knew and probably deteriorating by the second.

"This sucks," Addie muttered.

* * *

"We really need to come up with new names for people like us," Addie remarked after dinner while playing Go Fish using a deck Monique had found in a dresser drawer, "Calling ourselves changed people sounds kinda dumb."

"You have a point," Monique replied distractedly as she looked over her hand, "Frankie, do you have any fives?"

"Go fish," the yellow-eyed teen answered.

Monique drew her required card from the deck and finding it to be not what she needed, nodded to Frankie to signal it was her turn, "Cybrids."

"Cy-wha?" Addie asked confusedly.

"Cybrid," the biter replied, "Take the 'cy-' from the word cyborg and the '-brid' from the word hybrid and put them together."

"But why cybrid when we could use cyborg?" Frankie asked.

"Because I want something that sets us apart from humans who have technological augmentation through human science. Our origins are different and I feel our name needs to reflect this difference. Cyborgs are humans who've been changed through human science, cybrids are humans who've been changed by whatever did this."

"Addie, you have any jacks?" Frankie asked as she looked down at her cards.

"Go fish," the eight year old replied.

* * *

Addie had fallen asleep on the only bed in the motel room that the wild biter hadn't fallen asleep on, leaving the older pair of the group to talk freely. "I don't wanna jinx us by saying this, but we've been doing pretty well. Maybe a little too well. You said there were people who went crazy when the change hit, but we've seen none of them. Even the biters are rare. What's up with that?"

"I dunno," Monique replied, "There definitely shoulda been more out, but we've seen next to none. Between that and those corpses we saw today, I'm coming to some pretty unpleasant conclusions."

"Me too," Frankie sighed, "God, everything is so _indescribably_ fucked up right now. How is this our lives?"

"I've been asking myself that for awhile now," the other girl replied bluntly as the wild biter on the other side of the room gave a loud, contented snore while snuggling deeper into the covers of it's bed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gonna be the most slowly updated fic I've ever done and part of the reason why I should never, ever post WIPs until I've completed them.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Addie asked over breakfast.

"Head to Flagstaff and go from there," Frankie replied as she stuffed herself with the last of the crackers.

Monique was about to cut in when a soft growl from the wild biter ended all conversation. In the silence the sound of metal feet tromping around outside could be heard. Knowing full well strange footsteps were never a sign of anything good, Frankie quietly grabbed her shovel and positioned herself by the door.

"I heard a growl," a someone stated from outside.

"Probably biters or ferals," someone else added.

"There's a car here though. What if it's another group?" another person asked, "If it's a group they need to know about Flagstaff."

"Hold Bitey," Frankie murmured to Monique, "I need to go talk to these guys."

Frankie walked over to the motel room door and with as much noise as possible opened the door. "What's this I'm hearing about Flagstaff?" she asked as she looked over the group.

There was a boy with glowing blue eyes, a red-eyed girl who was almost completely mechanized and a purple eyed girl no older than Addie standing in the motel parking lot. A distant screech and the sound of combat caused all of them to jump and sent the small group looking frantically at Frankie, the implication obvious. "Alright, you guys can come in until the fighting outside dies down," Frankie sighed, "but just be warned that we've got two biters in the group."

The relief on the faces of the small group was obvious.

* * *

"I'm Skylar," the blue-eyed boy announced as he plopped his backpack on the ground and sat on the motel bed, "the kiddo is Jessie and red eyes is Redeyes."

"I'm Frankie, jet wings is Addie, miss mecha is Monique and we haven't named our wild biter yet."

"So what's all this about Flagstaff that we need to know?" Monique asked, obviously eager to get to the point.

"The city's downtown is infested with normies and army guys who got left behind in the chaos of evacuation," Redeyes muttered, "They've got kill-teams out to hunt people like us."

"We saw some corpses on the road up here," Monique replied, "it looks like someone shot them with bullets meant for tank armor."

"That'd be the army guys work alright," Redeyes growled, "they almost exclusively use tank-killer bullets. It's the only thing that'll burn through our armor."

"Is that why there's so few biters and crazies?" Addie asked.

"The kill-teams are smart enough to know that hunting or even going outside their glorified walls at night is pretty much suicide so they hunt during the day," Skylar replied, "All the surviving ferals and biters smart enough to figure it out now come out at night instead of in the day, making all the people like us the kill-teams' targets."

"Is that what that fighting noise was?" Addie asked.

"No one's heard gunfire," Skylar murmured, "if it was a kill-team attacking some place we'd hear more gunfire. It's probably a couple ferals, but if they keep up that racket the kill-teams are gonna notice."

Frankie groaned in frustration, "So how are we gonna get out of the state if the on and off ramps for the interstates are possible death traps?"

"That's what we've been trying to figure out," Redeyes sighed.

"What about The University?" Jessie asked, "There's still good people there, they might be able to help."

"Yeah," Redeyes muttered, "and the most obvious path to it is a fucking kill-team gauntlet."

"If the back way from Mormon Lake isn't compromised we could use that," Frankie suggested.

The others gave her a look of confusion, prompting her to explain, "There's an unpaved shortcut to Mormon Lake here in Munds' Park. My aunt took it once in a truck without four-wheel drive on a camping trip to one of the campgrounds in the area and it leads to a paved road that can be used as a back way to Flagstaff. If they don't have all the roads covered, we could use that."

"Can the hatchback even handle that?" Monique asked.

"My aunt took an unpaved, rocky road to some lava tube caves in this big ol' white Chevy van," Frankie answered, "it's slow going, but off-roading can be done without four-wheel drive, but unless your car's a beast like the van was it'll be killer on the suspension."

"It's not really the suspension that's the issue," the older Biter replied, "it's more the fact that we need out of here and fast, preferably before the kill-teams catch whiff of us. We need a fast car, not a hatchback that can only take a bump at five miles an hour or less."

Addie sighed in frustration, "I don't think we have any other _good_ options. Finding an off road car will take too long and they're too loud, the engine noise could attract bad attention. Walking in the day is too slow, there's no guarantee of shelter when night comes and the kill-teams are out. Walking at night is apparently suicide with all the ferals and biters coming out. We gotta take what we can get."

"It's suicide for normies," Redeyes remarked, "but for people like us, if you're willing to take your chances and play your cards right, walking at night can be done. It's risky as hell and the price for any little screw up is steep, but it can be done."

"I don't think any of us are really willing to take those kinds of chances just yet," Frankie replied, "we've had a pretty decent string of luck so far and I don't want to push it right now. Luck's gonna run out eventually and I'd rather it not be right now."

"Don't jinx it!" Addie hissed with a force that startled the wild biter off the bed where they were sitting.

* * *

"This sucks," Monique muttered as Frankie carefully drove the hatchback over a particularly nasty rock.

"At least it isn't raining," Skylar retorted.

"Ugh," Jessie groaned from the backseat where she was squished in with Monique and the wild biter, "don't get me started on rain."

"So what's so important about this 'University' you were talking about earlier?" Addie asked, trying to change the topic before someone started something.

"Some normies who aren't total asshats fortified part of the University and turned it into a safe haven for people like us," Redeyes answered, sticking her head into the car through the open sunroof, "If the kill-teams haven't annihilated them, they should be able to provide us at least a roof over our heads and a safe place to figure out our next moves."

Everyone flinched as Frankie took the hatchback over yet another nasty bump, sending Redeyes scrambling to grab onto something so she wouldn't fall through the sunroof and into the car. "Fuck," Frankie hissed angrily, "I forgot how nasty some of these bumps could be."

"No shit," someone muttered.

* * *

 "Oh thank god," Monique groaned as the hatchback finally freed itself from the clutches of the infernal dirt road and pulled itself onto the paved road before it.

"We're not outta the woods yet," Redeyes remarked, "The lake's turned into glowing blue stuff and it draws the ferals and biters like you would not believe. There's so many at any given time that even the kill-teams avoid them. The ferals usually go there in the day to avoid the biters, who typically drink at the lake at night."

"Could we make a stop at the lake?" Jessie asked, "I'm hungry again and my bottles of blue stuff are empty."

"Shit," Redeyes groaned, "Can it wait until we get to The University? They've got some faucets that produce blue stuff."

"No, it's getting bad and I'm not sure I can hold on for that long."

"Fuck."

"The wild biter's getting fidgety," Monique added, "I'm not sure they can wait either."

"Alright," Frankie sighed, "We'll make a pit stop at the lake but for fuck's sake please be quick, I don't want this car trashed by ferals."

"They should avoid us," Jessie murmured, "even among ferals we have a reputation."

"Still, I'd rather not linger any longer than we need to."

* * *

The ferals, each one in myriad states of transformation, growled and rumbled threateningly as Monique and company approached the lake. The wild biter hissed menacingly and flashed their fangs at them, sending the ferals skittering away from them. Now they had a place to drink from.

They drank quickly and efficiently, pointedly minding their own business as to not agitate the ferals any more than their presence already agitated them. When the trio of biters had their fill of the blue stuff, they walked back trough the tall, shimmering solar panel grass and crystal cattails to the hatchback where the others were quietly watching for any sign of trouble and appreciating the strange, but exotically beautiful view.

The entire valley below them had been transformed, turned from a lake surrounded by yellow-green grasslands to a glowing lake of cyan-glowing liquid surrounded by a shimmering black field of solar panel grass interspersed with crystal cattails. On the edges of the grasslands, the pine trees had become great pillars of dull copper covered in black needles, with crystal pine cones in a thousand different colors hanging from metal branches. Behind the first few rows of trees, green pine needles could still be seen as whatever was changing their world continued it's work.

If things weren't so dangerous right now, Monique would have been content to stay and just watch, but there were uneasy ferals here, kill-teams hunting somewhere out there in the area and the sun was at it's zenith, beginning it's ultimate descent into the west. Night would bring the biters and ferals out in full force and there'd be no waterhole truce of necessity to keep them from attacking her small group. If they were all still alive when things got better and the ferals and wild biters had been routed, maybe they would have a picnic meetup and revel in the strange beauty around them.

But that was another thing, for another day that a biter like her would probably never live to see.


End file.
